Image: Maika’i Tubbs, “Written in Stone”
This course is an invitation into the field of English studies through an introduction to its materials and methods. We will practice reading a variety of forms (including poetry, prose, and drama), practice placing works in their social, historical, and political contexts, and practice analyzing texts using some key theoretical frameworks (including Marxism, feminist theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, disability studies, and Indigenous studies). Across the semester you will learn to read texts closely, interpret them confidently, write about them clearly and convincingly. In doing so you will join a critical conversation with other writers in this class and beyond.
Critical readings will include works by Ferdinand de Saussure, Stuart Hall, Judith Butler, Lauren Berlant, Alison Kafer, and Haunani-Kay Trask. We will also analyze literary texts by Toni Morrison, Claude McKay, Brandy Nālani McDougall, Kristiana Kahakauwila, and others.
After completing this course you will be able to:
• employ literary and cultural studies theories, concepts, and methodologies as part of your own engagement with a wide range of texts
• analyze the relevance of different literary and cultural studies theories and methods for a Hawaiian and Pacific context
• write clear and convincing analyses of literary, theoretical, and cultural texts
Assignments will likely include weekly responses, a sonnet assignment, an annotation assignment, a creative theory explainer, two short essays, and a final portfolio.